Improving the coherence time of a quantum system via a coupling to a short-lived system

Phys Rev Lett. 2015 Mar 27;114(12):120501. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.120501. Epub 2015 Mar 23.

Abstract

In this Letter, we propose a counterintuitive use of a hybrid system where the coherence time of a quantum system can be significantly improved by coupling it with a system of a shorter coherence time. Coupling a two-level system with a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV^{-}) center, a dark state of the NV^{-} center naturally forms after the hybridization. We show that this dark state becomes robust against noise due to the coupling even when the coherence time of the two-level system is much shorter than that of the NV^{-} center. Our proposal opens a new way to use a quantum hybrid system for the realization of robust quantum information processing.